reason about those things. But I don't lie in wait for people who are going to drown, nor do I throw them into the water—like these people who start revolutions—just in order to fish them out afterward.
Marat. You are ashamed of the good you do. I hate these people who brag of their vices. [He turns his back.] What are you carrying there?
Hoche. Some waistcoats that I embroidered; I'm trying to sell them.
Marat. Pretty work for a soldier! Do you mend clothes?
Hoche. It's as good a trade as tearing them.
Marat. Don't you blush to steal women's business? So that is what you are doing? You think of your business, you hoard your gold, when Paris is about to swim in blood!
Hoche [quietly, and with a touch of disdain]. Oh, we have time enough. Everything in due time.
Marat. Your heart is cold, your pulse is slow. You are no patriot. [To Hulin.] And as for you, you are worse than if you really did what you brag about! You had a decent healthy character, which you are wilfully perverting.—Oh, Liberty, these are your defenders. Indifferent to the dangers that beset you, they will do nothing to combat them! I at least will not abandon you, I alone. I shall watch over the people. I will save them in spite of themselves. [He goes out.]
Hulin [watching him go, and laughing]. Our gay associate! He sees everything through pink spectacles. He's a doctor from my country. One feels im-
